You have several healthy options! First, I would recommend wearing the highest sunscreen you can. Second, don’t look at the tan through shirts. Look at the shirts that provide you additional SPF converage. I have several from REI. They are long sleeves, but they tend to keep me cool during the summer.

Oh bummer. This sounds lame…buit what about getting one of those pop up canopies? Then you can make sure you’re gardning in the shade? =

And, you probably know this, but even a tanning bed won’t help if you get REALLY tan. Those lines will still be obvious. i had a helluva time getting rid of my JUNE vacation tan lines (a halter top swim top) for a SEPTEMBER wedding where i wore a strapless dress. L’oreal tanning goo had to save me =

I was a neurotic sunscreen wearer the summer before my October wedding. It becomes tedious, especially if you spend a lot of time outdoors, but it’s so healthy for your skin! Try to focus on the added health benefit 🙂 You could also try getting airbrush tanning to even out any lines, but you might not be able to get a perfect match.

Just because I feel like we’re all being a little preachy about healthy sunscreen use, I should add that after being a crazy sunscreen user, I did go to a tanning bed in the month leading up to my wedding to get a little color 🙂 I spend a lot of time outdoors, and after wearing so much sunblock all summer, I was a lot paler than usual and didn’t look like myself. So I went with the ‘sunblock when I could get weird tan lines but tanning bed to get a little color route.’ I’m sure my dermatologist would beat me if she knew, but I figured it was okay this one time 😉

I’m getting a custom spray on tan. The kind that a professional does. I got one for my sister’s wedding and it turned out great. They last for about a week so you have to go close to your wedding date. If you haven’t done it before and are worried you may want to go for a trial run.

I don’t know if spray tans are still like this, but I am an adamant non-suntanner and went to try out the spray tans when they first became really popular, almost ten years ago now (shtttt, I am old!), and within two days it started to rub off. I had light splotches all over me. It looked like I had some kind of skin disease :X I actually had to take two days off from school because I couldn’t fix it and I looked seriously outrageous. Not the kind of look I think most people would want for their wedding.

If you’re looking for a glow (not a deep tan), you might want to try the “glow”-type moisturizing lotion. I’ve used it before to get rid of farmer tans, and it works fairly well and I’ve never turned orange. I wouldn’t recommend the 3-day kind–I’ve never tried it, but I can imagine that if it’s that quick-acting, you might turn out blotchy if you don’t apply it completely evenly. The non-quick acting stuff works gradually enough that even if you don’t apply it perfectly evenly every time, it’s not obvious. But it might be best to start a while before the wedding to see how it works for you. I think it essentially just dyes the top layers of your skin (can you tell I’m not a science expert?) and I assume it lasts longer than spray tanning.

If nothing else, you could sunscreen yourself and also wear a tan-through swimsuit. It might not be the most even tan, but it’s better than nothing. Also, if you keep your straps moving around (wear different kinds of shirts as you garden) it should tan more evenly.